Here’s The One Thing That I am Afraid of…

With the Obama/Clinton web war gaining momentum (and more momentum), the one thing that worries me is this: What happens if after the Clinton/Obama shoot-out and after the primaries, what happens if the Republican candidate takes it all in the final election? Everybody seems so dead-sure that it’s basically going to be a Him-or-her thing, but: The web war really only concerns the Democrats’ clientèle – the Republicans must surely be laughing up their sleeves?!? Is there no solidarity, not even between Democrats and Democrats? I am afraid this war is never going to end, certainly not under another Republican rule.

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Fears that the war will never end under the administration of either party are completely legitimate, though the democrats suggest that all “combat troops” will be removed. Obama: “We’ll be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in.” What’s painfully clear is that the next administration, regardless of party, will inherit the Iraq war.

That said, the democrats are publicly agreed that this administration’s troop “surge” is a failed policy, despite the modest decrease in violence. Whereas John McCain is committed to the Bush policy of indefinite deeployment in Iraq, both democrats have promised varieties of change.

With regard to the question of solidarity, and a united front (including web) against the republicans, we’ll be seeing it as soon the democrats have a candidate. The web war has increased of late because Clinton must win convincingly on March 4th in either Ohio, Texas, or both to remain a viable candidate.

If Obama wins convincingly on Tuesday, the web war will be over and McCain will suffer the brunt of a united effort by the democrats to (correctly) paint him as a 3rd term of failed Bush policies.

The key to the general election here is the tanking economy. McCain has suggested that he doesn’t understand it. He’s running entirely on foreign policy. Both democrats have plans to bolster the economy and attend to domestic concerns about health care and education. That’s a winning formula in November.

Another auspicious sign is the fragmentation of the republican base. Ultra-conservatives hate McCain for his views on immigration, stem cell research, and his only recently deciding to support the making permanent of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. McCain doesn’t sit well with either fiscal or social conservatives. Fiscal conservatives view the Iraq war as a terrible expenditure of big government. Social conservatives fail to identify McCain as one of their flock.

Further, McCain has recently had serious questions raised in the New York Times about the ethics behind his embarrassing attachment to lobbyists. “Maverick”McCain comes off looking like a stooge or a corporate shill.

I don’t think any serious republican is laughing up her sleeve about this election. They are in serious trouble.

I _so much_ hope that you are right. Still, I am _so afraid_ of a silent majority that votes with their guts and not their brain, and who are also so conservative inside that they’ll neither go with a woman nor with someone with African heritage as a president of their country – the same ones that made GWB president a second time. Shudder!

Despite the aforesaid, I’m afraid, too. The idea of suffering through another republican administration is unthinkable.

Still, I’m optimistic that a majority will vote for someone of African heritage, or a woman. It’s perhaps difficult to articulate the level of mass dissatisfaction here. People know that another republican administration won’t help ease their gut sense that the country is headed in the wrong direction. (I feel like I should again assert that American politics is not solely the provenance of the much feted American “gut.” 😉

Excitement amongst democrats in primaries and caucuses is reflected in the disproportionate number of voters showing up to weigh in for Clinton or Obama, as against the number of republicans showing up to vote for anyone.

Again, I’d suggest that the same folks who made GWB president a second time are in considerable disarray, and their ranks are shrinking.

In any event, we’ll keep our fingers crossed, but like Bob Dylan sang so long ago, the times they are a-changin’.

As I wake up each morning, I am anguished at the number of people who will vote with their guts instead of looking at the issues. What issues? I am moved by the number of people who will vote for Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman, because “they have to stop the women bashing” I am moved by the number of people who will continue to vote their pocketbooks, and who don’t give a hoot about the issues in this shrinking world…

I am anguished by the very fact that the candidates are not really adressing the terrible issues that face the next American president.I am worried about the discussion of very basic issues that emanated from the debates. The media has been absent in trying to draw out the issues and make this a real election..

The American issue dilemna is repeated so many times around in the World. The French presidential election of 2007 was very similar with candidates looking for number one.

We should be happy to have a democratic system in the US. How many people realise that and use it to discuss the real issues?

I cannot really see 4 years of a Hillary Clinton nor of a John McCain and silent majorities. Change must come. We are otherwise digging our graves at a pace unbeknown.